Series editor Clifford Meth says, “New Classics of the Fantastic will be an essential science fiction library. It will bring back Hugo and Nebula Award winning books that have fallen out of print. Sadly, most award-winning genre titles don’t last long on the shelves–that’s a function of space, not quality. So IDW has assembled a list of extraordinary books–titles that represent the very best selections of the very best authors in science fiction. Robert Silverberg’s Nightwings is a genuine must-read for science-fiction fans.”

We’ve talked before about how classics sadly fall out of print, so this is cool news. Now readers who are sadly under-read in the classics [looks at self] can catch up — assuming they don’t already own the books in multiple versions that are stored away in boxes for the coming apocalypse [looks at self again].

Since I work for Audible there’s a bit of self-interest here, but I think it’s worth pointing out that in the world of downloadable audiobooks, classics never go “out of print”. This year, we launched a concerted effort to bring classic works into audio for the first time, which assures that they’ll always be accessible. We’ve produced Zelazny’s LORD OF LIGHT and THIS IMMORTAL; Simak’s CITY and WAY STATION; THE BIG TIME by Fritz Leiber, as well as his entire LANKHMAR series(!). On the horizon, we’re producing A CASE OF CONSCIENCE by James Blish, four novels by John Varley (including the TITAN/WIZARD/DEMON sequence), and much more. And it’s not just our own efforts; audio houses like Blackstone, Recorded Books, Tantor, Macmillan have kept dozens and dozens of classic works “in print” via digital audio.

There’s always a lot of attention paid to the perishability of 50-year-old works, but I’d argue that with the relatively short shelf life most SF & Fantasy books experience, producing ANYTHING for audio download ensures it will live on. Which is why I’m thrilled every time we can bring to audio recent Nebula winners like Elizabeth Moon’s THE SPEED OF DARK or Joe Haldeman’s CAMOUFLAGE (both coming soon!) – or recent Hugo winners like Robert J. Sawyer’s HOMINIDS and Neal Stephenson’s THE DIAMOND AGE.